Waxing Waning Gibbous
by foreverinzfantasy
Summary: This is an alternative way that Zuko joins that Gaang. The fire nation find Katara while searching for Aang. After being taken prisoner she makes a deal with Zuko to break Iroh out of prison. This story assumes that Zuko did not rebel during Day of the Black Sun.
1. Chapter 1

She heard the branches snap before she saw them. She felt the ground tremble softly before she heard them. And she smelled the pleasurable yet suffocating air born ashes before she felt them. The fire nation's tanks. It was pathetic really, Katara thought to herself bitterly as she slouched against the airship prison wall,her arms suspended in the air by chains, all her senses alerted her to this yet she wasn't prepared to fight nethertheless. it's considerably harder when you're chi blocked from circus girl who used Katara's hesitation to attack. The chi block had worn off by now, however there was no water for Katara to utilize.

When she first saw the tanks though she knew she had no chance. With queasy knot in her stomach Katara realized that she had no choice but to run. Feeling like a coward she turned on her heels and darted behind a tree, fire sprayed on each side of her like waves on rocks. In the moment a question came to mind: Where to? Should she run back to camp for help? But that would reveal the Gaang's location. In a normal circumstance that is exactly what they would do, but the southern air temple was a sacred place. If she lead the firebenders to it, a beautiful temple would be destroyed forever.

Whatever decision she would've made was completely useless to her fate now. In that moment of hesitation a precise blow from a fist landed on her midback. Her spine went ridged, each of her back muscles were activated at once. In that time Tye Lee hit strategic points on each of her legs and arms, then she took the water canteen. Collapsed on the ground she saw the tree she had taken shelter behind was now a gaping hole. She hadn't even gotten any bending in.

Now there was nothing to do except sulk and wait for Toph, Aang, and Sokka to notice she was missing. Maybe it was a good thing she had gone off her own. Had she told the rest of the group she was looking for food they would expect her to be gone for a while.

Well there was more to do than sulk, how did the fire nation troops find them?

That question would be answered much later.

There was no windows in the room. When she was dragged into the airship (after refusing to give away Aang's location) she was able to tell that where she was held was on the bottom, and from the vibrations from the floor, near the engines. The floor and walls were made out of metal as if to taunt her. Had Toph been here they would've escaped in no time.

The door had a small window out to the hallway, and the little light through the bars cast a reverse shadow in the darkness in the shape of three lines.

Time passed like a drifting cloud. Soon her eyes lost the perception to see the depth of the walls, and the room faded into a gray blur. Except those three lines. She pulled against the chains as she slumped down the wall.

The whine of the prison door woke her up. The first thing she saw was the cool gray metal floor turn to such a bright beige yellow. For someone who spent the last four hours in a lightless prison the metal reflecting the hallway light was as bright as the sun. Katara's head snapped up. _Zuko._


	2. Chapter 2

It's been a while since she had seen him in fire nation clothes. The red dye in his fabric brought the color in his cheeks. The color she had associated with trouble for so long. Her gut churned. A hiss formed in the back her throat; one that was made of anger and fury and spread across every inch of her skin. Her limbs went ridged. The chains reminded her that they were there with their furious clanking when she pulled her arms.

"I've come here to make a deal." Zuko said grimly. He stood tall and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Not interested." Katara snapped. He rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.

"_Katara."_ Zuko lowered his voice. "Just by coming to talk to you I'm committing treason."

"Bullshit." Katara said surprising herself with her vulgarrity.

"I know you have no reason to trust me, but just hear me out."

"Not only do I have no reason to trust you, but anything you say I will regard as a trick."

"Okay, then I will say my piece, then I will free you." Katara narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "If you don't believe me then you can leave. The guards will catch me and Azula and my father will have me executed for my crimes."

"There are guards listening in from the hallway, aren't there?"

"When I let you out you can see for yourself."

"I'm not showing you Aang's location."

"If you want, you don't even need to get him involved. All I need is help from someone who is not a firebender but can still bend."

"You're pathetic if you think I'm going to fall for your tricks again." Katara remarked, crinkling her nose in disgust. The edge of her cuff dug into her wrist as she tugged against them, wishing to leap up and snap his neck.

Color blossomed on Zuko's cheeks. He exhaled sharply. Uncrossing his arms and holding his hands in front of him, palm up, his eyes pleaded with her desperately. "Please," He began with a hushed tone, glancing behind him into the hallway. "When I agreed to help Azula I didn't think things through. My uncle was imprisoned for treason when all he was trying to do was help me. He is currently being held at the Main Street Prison for political prisoners that need to be kept close to the capital, so there's no way they would expect a waterbender."

Katara's skin crawled. "You disgust me." She spat. "Iroh was a good man who treated you like a son. How could you betray him like that?!" Her arms pulled against the chain furiously.

His face was beet red now. "I want to help him. I've had time to sleep on my decisions, and all they've brought me is tribulation. Please Katara, if there's one thing I've learned from my life, it's that I can't do this may be my last chance to get help. I'm sorry for what I did to you and your friends, I really am, and I'm sorry I've stooped so low to beg for help from someone whom I should be trying to atone, but you're my last hope." His confession streamed out of his heart like tears. He collapsed on the floor and lowered his head. "Please."Katara's head swarmed with conflicting feelings. Toph had taught her signs to look for when people were lying. Since Katara was no earthbender, Toph had tried to teach them what gestures to look for when people were attempting to perform deception. While Zuko was unable to look her in the eye, what he said seemed sincere. Still, the disbelief gnawed at her sympathetic feelings and clogged the logic she needed to make a good decision.

From his kneeling position on the floor Zuko peeked up to receive her response. However, this time it was Katara's turn to avoid eye contact. Zuko pulled out a tiny key, about the size of his thumb, and reached to Katara's left arm. With a faint tremulant series of clicks her arm dropped to the side. When the same happened to her right arm, Katara leaped up. She darted past Zuko into the hallway, prepared to defend herself if necessary. The hallway was empty. On a whim she choose to run to the left, her feet make making noise as they slapped against the floor. When she came to a hallway running perpendicular to hers, (connected like a "T") Katara stopped. She check both ways. Once again the hallway was empty, except for two guards that lay slumped against the wall. Katara oogled at them, her mind piecing together the facts.

Zuko had caught up to her. Empathy and resentment mixed together in her gut like two battling demons. About to explode from frustration, Katara whirled around and socked Zuko in the face.

The strike was made out of emotion, so it collided awkwardly on the left side of his face (the side with the scar), where his hard cheekbone meet the soft fleshy part of his cheek. He doubled over and put his hands up.

"Damn it." Katara muttered. She had never sworn so much in her life. "Damn it, Zuko." For a couple of seconds they just breathed. Neither of them said a word.

"When you first came in you said you were going to make a deal with me. Yes?" Katara demanded.

"R-Right." He stammered.

"What do I get out of this. All you did was beg me to help you. What do I get out of it?"

Zuko looked confused. "I helped you escape." He said cautiously.

"You said you were going to do that whether I helped you or not. What do I get if I help you?"

"Uh- This is for Iroh, not really for me…"

"Are we going to make a deal or not?"

He met her eye and said steadily "I'll do whatever you want me to do. I'll forever be in your debt." Well wasn't that the words every girl wanted to hear.

Katara huffed. "Aang needs a firebending teacher to defeat Ozi."

"I-"

"Not you. We never will accept you as a teacher."

Zuko straightened up. "I understand. But Katara, I can't make promises for other people."

"Iroh will understand; I'm certain of it." Katara held a high respect for the man. In fact, she assumed he would accept the role as Aang's firebender anyway, that is if Zuko and him didn't bail the second he was let out.

"Alright. Iroh will become Aang's teacher." Zuko confirmed. Katara stood there, her heart pounding, think of what to do next.

" I still distrust you, and I think that this may all be a clever trap set by Azula to lead you to where Aang is." The more Katara thought about it, the more it made sense. The guards a couple of feet away from her could be pretending to make Zuko's story seem more real, but if this went through correctly, Aang would have the perfect firebending teacher.

"Then don't show me." Zuko said. "I doubt the warden of Main Street Prison is equipped to deal with a powerful waterbender. Especially if we go at night. You see in two nights there is a full moon…"

Suddenly an idea hit her over the head like a rock. _My God…_ she thought to herself. _I could, I could…_

"The guards are prepared to fight fire benders, because only they would be able to get so far in the main land. I could distract…"

"Alright." Katara shut him up. "First we need to get out of here." Zuko's face light up.

"You mean you'll help me? Katara, thank you so much.."

"Is everything alright down here?" A husky voice thundered from their left above them. Katara and Zuko froze it was time to think fast. For the first time in his life, Zuko thought of a good plan. He grabbed Katara's wrist.

"Fight him. I will smash your chains and make it look like you broke out. I will hide while he drags you back to your cell, then afterwards I will take you out to 'go to the bathroom'-since the bathrooms are near edge of the ship, then we will jump out."

"Jump out? How high are we?" Zuko thought that one through.

"Uh- pretty high, but we're over water right? So we should be okay…" Katara rolled her eyes. At the height she figured they were at, water would feel no different than rock, but with her bending the two of them should be fine. "Alright- go!" Zuko tore off down the hallway. And Katara put her hands up and backed around the corner.

A meaty looking engineer walked down the hallway. "Asuna? Lee? C'mon, we found the leftovers from dinner you guys are missing o-" Katara leapt around the hallway. She bended the sweat from her's and meaty's bodies to bend and cut open some skin on meaty's arm. Meaty jumped back in surprise and called down the hallway. Then lept at her, hand out. In a frenzy Katara tried to slice the extended palm up, but it seemed to have no effect on him. His other hand smacked her in the stomach and sent her flying back. Since her jobs was to stall and not escape, she winced in pain and tore off down the other direction of the top of the top 'T' to spend time. Meaty tore off after her. She hadn't made it five steps until she was caught in a sea of firebenders. Strong hands on her each of her limbs, Katara was dragged back to her cell. A huge pressure was lifted off her chest, but anxiety settled into her stomach. While it was a relief to see the chains successfully smashed (with Zuko nowhere near the crime scene), the last thing Katara wanted was to be crammed in this cell again.

With no chains to put on her wrists, the just door was slammed shut leaving Katara alone in the dark. Again.


	3. Chapter 3

"Azula." Zuko addressed his sister, keeping his guard up. "It seems we've been out here all night, maybe we should question Katara again?" It had been an hour since Zuko and Katara departed, yet the happy butterflies in his stomach had not ceased to flutter. Since he came back to the bridge he hadn't been able to find a legitimate excuse to sneak back. Azula didn't even glance over at him; the only reaction he got was her mouth pressing further down into a line. She sat in the command chair, coldly staring out the front windows into the night sky. Zuko was pretending to gaze lazily at the map when in reality, he was trying to memorize every inch of it. "Azula?" Zuko said, reminding her he had spoken.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" She drawled. Zuko went cold. He may be a dunderhead but after living with his sister he could detect the malice in her voice. "I was just saying we should try and get some information. You know, to speed things up."

"And why would we try that again. Do you have something that might achieve different results from last time?"

"I'm just tired of drifting over this stupid island. When are we going to land?"

"Hmm. Well that would be just like you. If you're tired why don't you go take a nap?" She hissed.

"Very well." Zuko sighed heading for the door.

"Oh no, you stay here. I will need you on the bridge." A tinge of annoyance sprouted into a glob of frustration. Zuko was one hair away from changing his plan to barbarically rampaging out the door when Azula spoke up again.

"Actually you're right. This is exhausting. Maybe if I burn her right ear off she'll say something then; what do you think Zuzu?"

"Heh." _Shit._ He thought to himself. _Now What?_ Already Aluza's comments made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He wasn't sure if she was on to him or he was just being paranoid.

"Shall we go?" Azula promptly rose from her seat. With a sly smile to her older brother, she waved her hand and strolled out of the bridge. Two guards followed her. With sweat building on Zuko's forehead, he did as well.

There was no way of keeping time where Katara was, but she knew that it had to be at least an hour. Sitting around in a dark cell can make time pass slowly, but sitting around in a dark cell while waiting in anticipation is utterly excruciating. And she really needed to pee. When she first heard the door hinges signal their movement, it was all she could do from beaming with relief.

It was a guard. With her nerves on the edge Katara kept a straight face and announced sternly: "It's about damn time. My bladder is on the verge of exploding and with all this trouble to keep me away from water I doubt you want that." The man holding the door blushed and made a gagging sound in attempt to say something; Zuko then appeared at his elbow. Katara watched his body language: fidgeting fingers, darting eyes, hunched shoulders… something was wrong.

"Well?" She said, with less confidence.

"Well, lucky for you the princess of the Fire Nation has decided to grace you with her presence." Azula smirked. Katara sucked in air sharply through her nose and instantly realized things were not going to plan.

Water. What water was available to her? The small glob of sweat wasn't effective against meaty, so there was no way it could make a dent on Azula. Zuko had told her that the moon would be full soon, so for tonight that meant the moon was at least a waxing gibbous. Her internal body clock told her that it was the middle of the night. She should be incredibly powerful right now. And like Zuko told her, the Fire Nation army was used to earthbenders and other firebenders. Still she had no water. Azula's laughter brought her out of her trance. By glancing over at her, Katara realized that she and Zuko had subconsciously been making eye contact, and that Azula had been watching them both.

"Well given it _is _three in the morning and speaking for myself, I'd like to take a nice steaming bath before retiring for the night, it seems it would be to everyone's benefit if you could just spill it now." Katara stuck out her chin. "Very well." In one swift motion Azula snapped out her arm and grabbed hold of Katara's right ear. Out of the corner of her eye Katara saw Azula's other hand extended behind her, but in that moment a searing flash of heat bit at the right side of her face.

Azula sprang away from Katara and hissed like a cat. Without a second thought Katara bound out of the room towards the hallway. The guard to her left was lying on the floor. As Katara turned her head to the right, a blaze of blue and orange fire sped at her. Both colors dispelled on each side of her as Zoku blocked them both. "Down this hallway!" Zuko commanded- he then jumped and twisted in midair to kick the guard in the teeth. Katara took this opportunity to dash past the battle. Tearing down the hallway a flash of blue light made her turn her head. Zuko, who was right on her tail did the same behind her. Azula held her hand behind her as a ball of energy grew like a spider waving its arms. Zuko slowed down and ran sideways, he reached his right arm out.

It happened so quickly. The blue light, Azula's lightning, branched out and attached itself to Zuko's outstretched arm. Katara caught her breath. Was this the end? Zuko closed his eyes, the blue light zapped around his body; he reached out and pointed to a bulge down the hall. The lightning followed the flow of his body, just as if it was a canal directing a river. This stunned Katara. What Zuko performed right then was in essence a water bending move. The lightning hit its target and a funnel of smoke billowed out. Coughing, the two ran through it.

"This way." Said Zuko heading off down a different hallway. Knocking down a couple of guards with some firebending the two made it to the area that Zuko had talked about earlier that night. He moved forward to open a hatch on the wall when a knife flew out of nowhere.

Zuko shot a ball of fire at the wall inside. A large pipe was revealed. Katara immediately knew there was water in there. She pulled her hands back to her chest in a strong sturdy move. This was not a move that she was taught, in fact, Katara observed Toph showing Aang the move. Water sprang out. Mai threw two knives at her which Katara deflected. Zuko had returned to the hatch door; he was using all his weight to pull the hatch open.

Katara's right leg collapsed underneath her. Falling to the floor, Katara twisted her body and shoot the water in on big gushing motion. Tye Lee flew down the hallway and slammed into two people who were watching. With her right leg numb, Katara propped herself up on her left leg and set up a wall of ice in between her and Mai.

The hatch door opened. "I'm sorry." Zuko muttered under his breath. He grabbed Katara's arm. As he dragged her to opening, Katara saw that it was not her that he apologized to. Mai on the other side of the ice turned her back and stormed off down the hallway. Out of the corner of her eye, Katara saw Tye Lee charging down the hallway towards them. Tye Lee hadn't even gotten within five feet when a strong grip on her forearm threw her out into air.

It was so dark out. The clouds covered the moon and stars, so it took a moment for Katara's eyes to differentiate between the sky and the ocean. Once she was able to do that, she infused the air and water together. She achieved this by creating bubbles. She had done this on a much smaller scale in case she came to this situation. She pulled water up to make a circle, trapping the air inside. That way when their bodies made contact with the water, it would be like jumping on clouds. Using the fluffy bubble water Katara pulled it up to her and Zuko. And caught the both of them in one giant hand. Because they were so high up, they crashed through it, but their speed had decreased considerably, so it was safe for Katara to use the traditional water hand to catch them and safely set them down on the surface of water. Once she did that, Katara created an air bubble around the two of them. It had to be big because Aang wasn't there to supply air. She then sunk to two of them below the surface.

Just keeping the air bubble at their head for air, they swam where Zuko directed them. Other than the occasional gesture the two swam in silence. When they finally reached land, they were both exhausted. When the adrenaline from escaping wore out, Katara found a thick fog had wrapped itself around her brain; It was so deep into night that it was a different day from when Katara was kidnapped.

"Think they followed us?" Katara wearily muttered into the darkness.

"No."

"Good, because I'm going to sleep." Katara crawled under a tree and laid her head down. She glared pointedly at Zuko to make sure he would not follow her. Sure enough he plopped down under a different one. With her body aching and mind drifting, it took only moments until Katara was fast asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The sun was high above her head when Katara finally awoke. It really was a wonderful feeling to have a lengthy uninterrupted sleep after too full of a day. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked around her: typical fire nation foliage, more lush shrubs than thick trees. It was unfortunate for Zuko, Katara saw, that the leaves of fire nation trees were more sparse and supplied less shade. Sleeping under the sun had no effect on Katara's dark skin, but Zuko's, who was still asleep, had turned pink. Seeing this gave Katara a small sense of satisfaction.

Too tired to get up, Katara watched the clouds until she heard motion a short distance away from her.

"How long was I asleep- ack!" Zuko cringed and rubbed his sunburns. Katara smiled to herself and stood up examining the sky. It was close to noon.

"We should get going." Katara said curtly. A brief nod signified Zuko's agreement.

"We need to follow this shore line." He turned and started to walk down to the beach that they washed up on. Noticing how he carelessly strolled right in the open, Katara barked at him: "What are you doing?! The airships will easily spot you!" Zuko froze in his tracks.

"I redirected Azula's lightning to hit the engines, so they couldn't have followed us."

"You hit the engines?" Katara thought back to the vibrations she felt in her prison and the bulge in the wall from last night. "Alright…" Katara skeptically responded. Even Katara herself thought that she was being too paranoid. Azula had never tried to pull something _near_ this elaborate out of her sleeve. Katara just wanted to cling onto the animosity she held towards him. The events at Ba Sing Se made it easier to view him less of a person and more of a scoundrel.

"Are you coming?" Zuko demanded. With all this negative thought, Katara subconsciously looked upon him with even more distain than usual.

"We're going to walk under the tree line." She commanded.

"The trees don't give much cover." Zuko said, rubbing his sunburns. Katara stiffened and scowled. "Alright, whatever you say." He made his way up the beach and continued to walk. Giving him an ample amount of space, Katara followed.

* * *

Aang and Sokka tore through the bushes and plants. They had been searching ever since it a gotten dark. After noticing Toph's and Katara's disappearance, they had begun to suspect the fire nation, but there's no way the fire nation troops could've took them on. Aang had taken Appa to search from above, but eventually Appa got tired, and Aang and Sokka had to travel on foot.

As they were taking a break, one of their concerns were settled. With a rubbing sound, Toph rolled in on a rock.

"Toph!" Cried Aang, relieved to see his friend.

"Where's Katara?" Inquired Sokka. Toph quickly explained what she thought had happened.

"I noticed yesterday Katara hadn't came back from wherever she went…"

"You noticed? When did she leave?"

"About five yesterday. When an hour had passed I went out to look for her. Once I got out a little ways I felt something strange, so I kept going. I didn't want to risk turning back and losing her."

"So what happened?" Aang pressed.

"I came back because- the presence I felt is coming towards us." Toph announced. Sokka pushed his way forward. "What do you sense, fire nation tanks?"

"No, in fact I've sensed this before, back when we traveling to meet up with the Solar Eclipse group: The metal man."

* * *

The building hadn't even become visible before they heard a furor of curse words followed by the sound of broken glass. Katara provided Zuko(whom she hadn't made eye contact with once the entire two hour walk) a pointed look before continuing to the shady run down slum.

"This is a town of criminals and outcasts and rebels- or one of many I should say. You'd be surprised how many of the Fire Nation's own citizens are its enemy."

Katara bowed her head. She always knew in her mind that the Fire Nation people were people just like her; in fact she had met so many in her most recent travels- but when she imagined the Fire Nation population as a whole she saw faceless heartless monsters. Zuko stopped abruptly.

A crowd was gathering at the pub(Katara assumed it was a pub- none of the buildings were marked.) that a man had gotten thrown out of. They were whistling and egging the man to fight back. The man in question had a round beer belly and a three inch long beard. With a warrior cry he charged back into the building, much to the crowd's thrill, and a soft _oof _was heard from inside. Katara's hand instinctively went to where her water canteen would be and stepped forward. When her hand met empty air instead of where she hid the canteen, she froze. Zuko tensed.

"Oh, I forgot... " He reached around and pulled out Katara's water canteen. Her heart fluttered. He handed to her. Careful not to touch his hand, she took it from him and hid it under the fluff of her skirt. "Thank you" She muttered. "Now what?" He looked around.

"Do you have spare change?" Chimed a sweet voice behind Katara. All the negativity melted away as Katara turned. A little boy, his face caked with black dirk, smiled up at Katara. Before Katara could react, Zuko stepped forward.

"This little guy is probably a gang member." Zuko warned. Katara tisked at him while reaching for her wallet (that she didn't have on her) when Zuko continued.

"Gangs recruit younger children to collect donations; the tourists and naïve adults always give them a profit." Katara gave the boy a sympathetic smile; she had nothing to give anyway. As she watched him scamper off, she noticed a gathering of people whom came from the way she just did. After many months of traveling and weeks of hiding in the fire nation, Katara could identify when there was trouble. Five maybe, seven grown men were whispering and pointing. Zuko, completely oblivious thought out loud their next course of action.

"Okay, we'll just grab a boat ride to main island, the boat rides are cheap here, or maybe we should get something to eat fir-" Katara grabbed his arm and hissed:

"Those people are watching us!" Dumbly Zuko turned around and look at the group.

"It shouldn't be a problem, it's not like they can know-"

"Exuse me," one of the members nervously walked up. "Are you prince Zuko?" She giggled shyly. More and more people were watching now. An elderly man had ran to the edge of the crowd once he heard prince Zuko might be there. With a dirty look from Katara, Zuko answered her cautiously.

"Well... uh... why do you want to know?" It was then when Katara, after thoroughly scanning the crowd, noticed there were some people holding posters. Without bbeing able to see the contents Katara figured it was best to safely assume those were wanted poster for Zuko.

Whether the news of last night had spred quickly, or this town was so far out of the loop they were posters from the time of his exile, it didn't matter.

"_Prince Zuko!?"_ The old man laughed and walked over to the pair. He had a tanned and wrinkled skin from working, his white hair stood in little tuffs, and his lips were pulled into a grin. "I'm honnerd that you think my grandson looks so majestic, but this isn't a prince!" He slung an arm around Zuko playfully; Zuko stiffened and had to bend down to accommodate him, but he didn't pull away. "This is my grandson- Lee!" He finished with a slight hesitation. The rest of the group looked from Zuko to the man.

"But this scar..." said a little boy, looking at the paper. _So it was a wanted poster after all. _Katara thought to herself.

"It's called a birth mark! Come on, do you people seriously think I'd be the type of person who'd lie about having a grandson just so I collect a reward?" A man next to the little boy put his hands in the air.

"Nobody's meaning any disrespect Shing, it's just that, well we're all trying to survive, and no one here ever knew that you had any kin."

"Sure I do! Haven't you seen my son visit me?"

"Uh no."

"Actually," a woman a said. "I may have. Is he tall with a bald head and nose piercings?"

"Uh yeah. Sure." Shing answered unconvincingly. The murmuring continued.

"Well you can all hang around here all day in the blasted heat, but I'm taking my grandson and his... _cousin_ to my cool little hut." With that he stormed off, dragging Zuko with him, and forcing Katara to follow.

Once they were clear of the crowds, Katara halted. Once Shing had noticed this, he stopped as well.

"Is there a problem?"

"I'm grateful for your rescue, but how can we be sure that you aren't about to drag us into a trap?"

Sighing he pulled his arm from around Zuko's neck. With releif Zuko stood up and stretched his back. A serious look came across the man's face, then he lowered his head to Zuko.

"Prince Zuko. I knew your greatgrandfather." He then looked him in the eye. "You may not be aware of this, but you are the descendent of Avatar Roku." Katara's lips parted with disbelief.

"What!? How can that be?!" Gasped Katara. Ignoring her, Zuko's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Yes I knew that. How did you come to know him?"

"I was a young boy when he died, but we were on friendly terms and I remained that way with the rest of his family." Zuko's heart was pounding. A huge knot formed in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't breathe. Maybe he was just overreacting, but could possibly...?

"And I know about your mother."

* * *

_Hello internets and fankids, hope you enjoyed reading my work and found it enjoyable. Unfortunately nobody has reviewed me yet. Forgive me if I don't understand how it could kill a reader to just take three seconds out of their day to help a writer out. pls. I have no idea if you people are liking this or just reading it cause you're bored._


	5. Chapter 5

Energy shot through Zuko's veins and he threw the man against a tree. Heart beat pounding, he looked him steadily in the eyes. Katara

whipped out her water and held it hovering in the air, just in case.

"What do you know about my mother?" Zuko demanded, desperation creeping into his voice.

"She lived near me when she was a child, and I knew her parents even after she left to marry our dear firelord." Repulsion was clear in his tone when he brought up Ozai.

"And where is she now?!" Zuko demanded. Upon hearing him say this, Shing visibly flinched.

"That is a story best to be told around a cup of tea, not-"

"WHERE IS SHE?!" Zuko roared, his voice echoed down the street. Katara watched her surroundings anxiously.

She attempted to calm him down. "Zuko, please, just wait a minute-"

"I knew that was Prince Zuko! I knew it was him from the start!" Cheered a young child triumphantly. More and more people began looking out their windows. Zuko froze.

"You two need to get out of here now." Advised Shing quietly. He took a handful of coins and put it in Zuko's pocket. "This won't be enough for a regular boat ride, but go to a man named Chou, and tell him I sent you." He pushed Zuko away from him ferociously.

"Prince Zuko?! How dare you pretend to be my grandson! Shame on you for taking advantage of an old man!"

"Let's go." Zuko tore off down the street and dove into the woods with Katara hot on his heels.

Once they came to the beach they slowed down and followed the shoreline, looking for the docks. Katara was itching to ask Zuko what in the world went on back there. Zuko a descendant of the Avatar? Ludicrous. And despite her common sense to stay out of her long-time enemy's past, she was curious about his mother too. When she was imprisoned with him in the crystal cave he talked about his mother. Katara assumed at the time his mother was dead, just like hers was. She figured she'd ask once once she got on the boat.

* * *

Aang, Sokka, and Toph stood ready and prepared for action as they waited for the

combustion man to appear.

"Aang, Toph," Sokka whispered. "One of you should hold this guy off while we go ahead." The two he had spoken to glaced at each other.

"No." Aang said sternly. "We'll fight him off together, as a team."

"Just hear me out." Sokka argued. "Every moment we waste could be putting her in further danger. Toph, didn't you sense fire nation machines?"

"Two tanks and something else. I felt it for a moment than it was gone, so I'm thinking it was an air ship."

"Right, so I think it's safe to assume Katara is being transported into the fire nation. Toph, were you able to tell what direction they came from?"

"The west."

"Just as I thought. There are taking her to the main islands, so every moment we waste she is getting sucked deeper into enemy territory, and the harder it will be to get her out."

"You know what Sokka? I think you're right. I will go with Sokka to find Katara. Aang, you stay here." Toph declared. Aang nodded.

"Good luck."

* * *

Katara sat cross legged the boat's bench and watched the waves roll past her.

"Zuko." He looked up from staring at his lap.

"What?"

"Are you really the great grandson of Avatar Roku?" He sighed and stretched out along his bench.

"Yes."

"Your mother was his grandson?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so how did your mother come to, well, be missing?" Zuko sighed again.

"That's a long story."

"Does it have anything to do with your- scar?" Self consciously Zuko touched the mark on his face with his finger tips.

"No, that's different. I spoke out against my father so he punished me, with this scar and exile. I could only return home when I brought the avatar with me." They were looking into each other's eyes now. Zuko was having trouble maintaining a steady gaze. The young water bender had always had a piercing glance, only once in Zuko life he had received that soft warm look she gave her friends and loved ones. _Then I betrayed her_, Zuko thought with regret. Katara looked away.

"That actually makes sense. I guess I can see now why you were so intent on kidnapping Aang." When she turned her face toward him, it bore the expression he received at the crystal cave in Ba Sing Se. His stomach did a summersault. Blushing softly, he no longer could look her in the eye and instead found interest in his shoes.

"I'm sorry for calling you a horrible person."

"Yeah." _Thank you, _He thought.

"So, your uncle. We're timing this around the full moon, right?" Zuko sat straight up.

"Yes, tomorrow night will be when the moon is at it's fullest. After that it will become a waning gibbous."

"Alright, now how will we escape after we rescue Iroh?" Katara inquired. Zuko rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I hadn't thought ahead that far in depth. See, four miles out from the prison is the Red Dragon Sea. I figured we could use your bending to sneak around. We'll head west from there avoiding the royalty occupied islands to avoid trouble. After that we can meet up with the rest of your group." Katara scowled.

"If we go west we'll be heading even farther away Aang. We camped out north east of here."

"Then we'll have to steal this boat." Zuko decided. Katara tisked at him.

"You can't go around taking other people's property!"

"We can return it later if we come back here. I know a passageway on land, but you can go and park this boat miles off shore, then we'll come back to it and escape. Sound like a plan?" Zuko clarified holding his palms up. Katara nodded.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Aang waited. He lacked Toph's earth bending ability to feel with the earth, so there was nothing he could do but listen. The sun beat down heavily on his bald head (the one drawback of shaving his hair off) and a bead of sweat ran down his face. He snapped his head up.

Placing one palm on the ground, he launched himself to the left, grabbed onto a tree limb, and watched the ground where he'd been sitting detonate. That was a plus to having a bald head. He could sense the change in air pressure much more acutely. Dust swarmed the air, and creeped like a morning fog. Aang encouraged the dirt cloud higher, until his place on the tree was covered. Then carefully he watched the general area the shot came from for movement. A wave of pressure smacked him in the face and he flew backwards in the air. The tree he'd been sitting on exploded just underneath where he sat. He grabbed a hold of his senses and brought the ground up to him. Riding a mound of earth just like he'd ride a ball of air, he went around the proximity of the dust cloud and allowed it to settled down, obviously it hadn't protected him.

He came to a place where he could see the mysterious madman who had been following him and attempted communication.

"Hey!" He said waving his arms. "Hi, I'm right here." The man turned. He had facial hair that seemed to follow the lines of his scowl. On his head (also bald) was a strange symbol resembling an eye. He leaned slightly backwards and the air whistled. Aang's pupils dilated and just in the nick of time he burrowed into the earth. He felt an intense heat on his head as the once dirt above him made way to the sky.

"Hey! I just wanted to ask who you are!" Aang cried as he airbended himself out of his ditch. The man froze.

"I-" He started, his voice deep and gravely and intense. "am an assassin." He started to shoot again.

"_Wait!_" Aang piled up rock around him a called out. "Who sent you?" He couldn't imagine Ozai sending an assassin, and Azula didn't seem like a likely candidate either. While she certainly wasn't above it, she would never trust someone else to do the job for her. The man hesitated.

"It's alright, none of my friends are here, and you're going to kill me anyway…" Combustion man leaned back, ready to strike:

"Prince Zuko." A flash of metal flew out of the sky. All Aang saw was the boomerang then the explosion, but he felt everything. The pressure built up in the man's forehead just as the boomerang hit it, blocking his powerful ch'i. In the sky Appa lowered himself down to the ground.

"Aang!" Sokka cried out, riding Appa, and holding his hand in the air. Aang thrust himself up and grabbed his hand. He climb aboard.

"Hey buddy." He said, petting the sky bison's fur fondly.

"Yip-yip." Sokka said curtly and they rose up into the air.

"I thought you guys went to find Katara." Aang said looking up at Toph

"Appa came to us. We figured it wouldn't matter if we went back and got you, plus we could pull a surprise attack from the air." Sokka explained, his eyes fixed on the horizon.

"So," Toph said, she was spread out on Appa's saddle, her arms draped cockily over the saddle's ridge. "Did we get him?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"Thank goodness." Toph cried exasperated. "Who even was that guy?!"

"An assassin." Aang said grimly.

"What a surprise." Sokka chuckled.

"Sent from Zuko." The air became dead silent.

Sokka tensed.

"That bastard."

* * *

_Guys please review, it would be great to have some feed back. I'd really like to know what you all are thinking about my work._


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